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22 MAI 2003. - Federal State Budget and Accounting Act (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
PART I^er. - General provisions
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. For the purposes of this Act, "services" means the federal government, agencies and enterprises, classified in one of the following categories:
1° the general administration, which includes all federal public services;
2° Administrations with management autonomy but without legal personality, referred to as "self-accounting administrative services";
3° public administration bodies with legal personality, referred to as "public administrative bodies", excluding public social security bodies of category D of the Act of 16 March 1954 relating to the control of certain public bodies of interest and public social security institutions which were taken up in the Royal Decree of 3 April 1997 on measures for the accountability of public social security institutions;
4° companies of a commercial, industrial or financial character, with a regime of autonomy but without a legal personality, called "state companies".
Art. 3. The provisions of Part II of this Act apply to all services referred to in section 2.
The specific provisions applicable to each category of services referred to in Article 2 are included in the various chapters of Title III.
Part II. - Provisions applicable to all services
CHAPTER I^er. - General provisions
Art. 4. Services establish a general account that includes annual accounts and, provided that a statutory provision does not exempt them from establishing a budget, the budget execution account.
Art. 5. The services shall maintain their general accounting and establish their annual accounts in accordance with the provisions of the General Accounts Plan, which the King orders under section 5, paragraph 1^er of the Act of 16 May 2003 establishing the general provisions for the budgets, the control of subsidies and the accounting of communities and regions, as well as the organization of control of the Court of Auditors.
Art. 6. The accounting year and the fiscal year begin 1^er January and end on December 31.
Art. 7. Any transaction is related to the accounting year or the fiscal year in which it takes place. In addition, in order to belong to an accounting exercise or to a fiscal year, the fees must have been recognized during those years.
However, accrued fees that are not recorded by service before 1^er February of the following year, belong to a later year.
Art. 8. A right is recognized when the following conditions are met:
1° its amount is accurately determined;
2° the identity of the debtor or creditor is determinable;
3° the obligation to pay exists;
4° a supporting document is in possession of the service concerned.
On the proposal of the Minister of Budget, the King determines the terms and conditions for the recognition of rights.
Art. 9. The rights recognized for the benefit of the services are extinguished by their payment, cancellation or prescription.
Art. 10. Any payment or shipment in cash and other values made in the credit unions of the services, shall result in the issuance of a receipt at heel with indication of the object of the payment.
This receipt is free of charge and a title form to the service concerned.
CHAPTER II. - General accounting
Art. 11. General service accounting covers all of their operations, assets, rights, debts, obligations and commitments of any kind.
Art. 12. Services maintain their general accounting according to the usual rules and the principles of accounting in part double.
Any operation shall be registered without delay, faithfully and in full order of dates in one or more newspapers.
Any writing is based on a supporting document to which it refers.
Art. 13. The transactions are consistently recorded in the accounts of the general accounts and, as long as they are also budget transactions, simultaneously in the accounts of the budget classes.
The General Accounts Plan referred to in section 5 defines the division of the accounting system, the content and mode of operation of the accounts. In addition, it sets out the rules of imputation and evaluation.
Art. 14. The supporting documents are classified in a methodical manner and retained in a manner that allows access to them.
The King determines the conditions for the supporting documents, as well as the conditions for their preservation and their availability of internal and external control.
Art. 15. Books and newspapers are kept and kept so as to ensure their material continuity, as well as their regularity and irreversibility of scriptures.
On the proposal of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Budget, the King shall determine the terms and conditions.
Art. 16. The services shall, at least once a year in good faith and prudence, carry out the necessary survey, audit, review and evaluation operations to establish a complete inventory of their assets and rights of any kind, their debts, obligations and commitments of any kind and the appropriate means to which they are assigned. This inventory is ordered in the same manner as the balance sheets of the General Accounts Plan referred to in section 5.
Art. 17. The annual accounts include:
1° the balance sheet;
2° the results account with all charges and products;
3° the summary account of budgetary transactions, in accordance with the economic classification;
4° the schedule.
The balance sheet is established after the accounts have been reconciled with the inventory data.
On the proposal of the Minister of Budget, the King may set the supplementary rules for the presentation of annual accounts.
Art. 18. Services prepare an annual report on their activities and the evolution of key financial data.
On the proposal of the Minister of Budget, the King sets the rules for the establishment and publication of the annual report.
CHAPTER III. - Budget and budgetary accounting
Art. 19. The budget provides and authorizes all transactions that result in a financial breakdown, carried out with third parties.
The general administration, self-accounting administrative services and state-owned enterprises are considered among themselves to be third parties for the purposes of this Act.
The budget includes:
1° in revenues, the estimate of the fees observed during the fiscal year;
2° in expenditure:
(a) the commitment credits to which amounts may be incurred by the head of bonds born or contracted during the fiscal year and, for recurring obligations, the effects of which extend over several years, up to amounts due during the fiscal year; by recurring obligations, it is necessary to hear those such as salaries, pensions, subscriptions or rents, whose effects span several years and whose imputation on the year of their birth would represent an economic burden with the latter;
(b) the winding-up credits to which amounts may be disposed of during the fiscal year of the Chief of Rights recognized as a result of obligations previously incurred.
Without prejudice to other budget classifications, estimates of income and expenditure are disaggregated in accordance with the economic classification.
Art. 20. Only one year's budget is charged:
1° in recipes:
the fees for service during the fiscal year;
2° in expenditure:
(a) in respect of the commitment credits, amounts that are incurred by the head of bonds arising or contracted during the fiscal year and, for recurring obligations, the effects of which span over several years, amounts due during the fiscal year;
(b) in respect of the liquidation credits, the amounts that are liquidated during the fiscal year of the Chief of the accrued duties arising from the obligations previously incurred.
Art. 21. The commitment and liquidation credits available at the end of the fiscal year are cancelled.
Art. 22. Budgetary accounting is maintained in connection with general accounting. It must allow for continuous monitoring of the performance of the service budget.
A duty recognized in expenditure, recorded in the accounts of the budget classes, cannot be paid without having been previously liquidated with a liquidation credit.
Art. 23. Any transaction shall be entered without delay, faithfully and in full order of date, in support of a supporting document.
Art. 24. Approval of contracts and contracts for works, supplies and services as well as grant bond orders cannot be notified before such contracts, contracts and orders have been charged to the commitment credits.
The King may, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget, derogate from paragraph 1^er for contracts and markets as well as grant collation orders whose amount does not exceed the amounts it determines.
Art. 25. The obligations required to ensure the continued operation of the services may be assumed from 1^er November, at the expense of the following fiscal year, within one-third of the voted commitment credits for the corresponding expenditures of the current year. The acts of engagement state that supplies cannot be delivered, nor services presumed, before the opening of the fiscal year.
Art. 26. Accounting commitments are cancelled when it appears that they are no longer required, and in any case, up to amounts that did not result in liquidation after five years from December 31 of the fiscal year in which they were made, unless, at the time of registration of the undertaking, a longer period had been provided due to the nature of the contract.
Art. 27. The budget execution account shall be established on the approved budget subdivisions. This account includes:
1° for recipes:
(a) the forecast of the fees observed in the fiscal year;
(b) the recognized budgetary year fees;
(c) the difference between forecasts and fees;
2° for expenses:
(a) use of commitment credits:
- the budget appropriations;
- the recorded commitments for the fiscal year;
- the difference between commitments and commitments;
(b) Use of liquidation provisions:
- the budget appropriations;
- the accrued fees that are liquidated during the fiscal year;
- the difference between liquidation credits and accrued fees that are liquidated.
Art. 28. An annex to the budget execution account shall at least mention:
1° for recipes:
cancelled rights, prescribed rights and indefinite overseverance rights;
2° for expenses:
(a) the recognized fees that are recorded during the fiscal year;
(b) the accrued liabilities not yet paid out of the budget;
3° for the settlement of commitments:
(a) the commitment to 1^er January;
(b) commitments made during the fiscal year;
(c) commitments cancelled during the fiscal year;
(d) the accrued fees that are paid out of the budget during the fiscal year;
(e) the outstanding obligations as at 31 December.
CHAPTER IV. - Organization of accounting
and control exercised by the executive branch
Art. 29. The King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget, sets out the rules applicable to services, or to a category of services, in the organization of accounting and budgetary transactions and defines the functions of decision, execution, registration, retention and oversight. These rules ensure the necessary separation between these functions and determine how those responsible are accountable.
The King may delegate to ministers whose services are responsible for the development of rules specific to them.
Art. 30. Inputs and outflows of services are made to the intervention of their accountants.
Art. 31. An internal audit is conducted with services subject to this Act.
The internal audit is an insurance and advisory function established to improve the operation of these services, including accounting and budget execution procedures. The internal audit is conducted and carried out independently.
The King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget, sets out the modalities for the organization and intervention of the internal audit in terms of budget and accounting.
The work plans for the execution of the internal audit, its findings and recommendations, as well as the methodologies used, are communicated promptly to the Minister of Budget and the Court of Auditors.
Art. 32. The Council of Ministers monitors the execution of the budget.
It determines the government's attitude to bill proposals and parliamentary initiative amendments that would have an impact on revenues or on expenditures, if any. In the event of an emergency, this competence of the Council of Ministers is exercised by the Minister of Budget.
Subject to the prior agreement of the Minister of Budget the preliminary bills, the drafts of royal decree and ministerial decree, circular or decision:
1° for which credits are insufficient or non-existent;
2° that are directly or indirectly in nature to influence the revenues or to result in new expenses.
The Minister of Budget may decide on specific matters that the favourable opinion of the Inspector of Finance exempts from its prior agreement.
Art. 33. On the proposal of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Budget and the advice of the ministers who have deliberated in Council, the King organizes administrative, budgetary and management control.
In addition to the exercise of this control, financial inspectors assume the role of the Minister's budgetary and financial advisor to whom they are accredited.
The financial inspectors render their opinions independently and in accordance with the ethics of the Inter-Federal Financial Inspection Unit.
The financial inspectors carry out their mission on exhibit and on site. They have access to all records and records of services subject to this Act, and are provided with all information they require from these services.
They may not participate in the direction or management of services, nor may they give orders to prevent or suspend operations.
Art. 34. Upon the instruction given by the Minister of Budget, the financial inspectors may be responsible for an investigation mission to all services subject to this Act.
The financial inspectors have the widest investigative powers to carry out this mission.
CHAPTER V. - Accountants of the Court of Auditors
Section I^re. - Accounting
Art. 35. Any denar or value belonging to the services, including the rights recognized, may be held only under the responsibility of a justiciable accountant of the Court of Accounts, and to whom the management of that asset is entrusted by or under a law or regulation.
The justiciable accounting function of the Court of Auditors is incompatible with that of an agent.
Art. 36. Any person committed to the custody, conservation or use of materials belonging to the services shall be responsible for such matters and shall report annually to the Court of Auditors.
Accounts indicate: quantities and values in stores, inputs, outputs, consumption and on sale, as well as quantities destroyed, disappeared or disposed of.
Minutes note these various movements and mutations in this part of the service.
Art. 37. The King, on the joint proposal of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Budget:
1° determines the form and conditions for the designation of accountants and their replacements during their absence;
2° defines the rights and obligations of these persons;
3° sets out the procedure to be followed by the administrative authority for the management of the recognized rights, when the accountant has completed all the necessary recovery actions.
Art. 38. The accountant is accountable to the Court for its serious fault, serious negligence and a slight repetitive misconduct, which has facilitated or permitted the occurrence of the deficit.
Section 2. - Regularization
and the recovery of accounting deficits
Art. 39. Annually, it is credited to the budget, to receive the imputation and regularization of losses resulting from deficits and extraordinary events.
The losses charged to the credit mentioned above are recorded by the competent administration for the Domains in its summaries. Such an administration shall exercise the necessary diligence to ensure its recovery on the property of debtors.
Art. 40. If, after five years from the date of the judgment of the Court of Accounts, an open debt due to deficit has not been recovered, the impossibility of recovery is found by a record, produced in support of the accountant's account for the recovery of the deficit.
Section 3. - Accounts
Art. 41. Any transaction of an accountant is recorded in its management account.
Art. 42. Any accountant shall report to the Court on the accounts of the transactions that it has carried out during the year.
Accounts must be submitted to the Court of Auditors before 1^er March of the year following that for which they are trained, without prejudice to the time limits set for the accounts to be held in the event of a deficit, transfer or termination of accounting functions.
PART III. - Specific provisions applicable to services
CHAPTER I^er. - General administration
Section I^re. - The budget
Art. 43. Each year, the House of Representatives votes the budget of the general administration.
Art. 44. The Council of Ministers decides on the necessary measures to develop the budget.
The Minister of Budget develops the budget bills and government initiative amendments to these projects.
Art. 45. The proposed budgets for the lanes and means and general budget of expenditures, together with a general statement on the said projects, are tabled in the House of Representatives by October 31 of the year preceding the budget year.
Art. 46. The general statement of the budget includes:
1° the analysis and synthesis of budgets;
2° an economic relationship;
3° a financial report;
4° a multi-year estimate;
5° a note on ageing in which the government sets out its policy on ageing.
Art. 47. The channel and means budget allows tax collection in accordance with the relevant laws, orders and tariffs. It contains the assessment of the revenues of the general administration and authorizes, within the limits and conditions it specifies, the conclusion of the borrowings.
An inventory of all tax expenditures is attached to the proposed channel and average budget.
Tax expenditures include all reductions, reductions and exceptions to the general taxation regime of taxpayers or economic, social or cultural activities during the fiscal year.
The channel and average budget is approved by the House of Representatives by December 31 of the year preceding the fiscal year.
Art. 48. The general spending budget provides and authorizes expenditures by program of the general administration.
Program appropriations separate the budgetary resources that relate to operating expenses and program objectives.
The general expenditure budget, if applicable, sets out the conditions for expenditures. In the absence of an organic law, any subsidy must be included in the general budget of the expenses of a special provision that specifies its nature; these subsidies may be granted under the conditions fixed by the King on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
The General Estimates are approved by the House of Representatives by December 31 of the year preceding the fiscal year.
Art. 49. Without prejudice to section 19, the budgetary documents also refer to:
1° with respect to revenues, the estimate of the amounts collected during the year, arising from the fees charged to the budget;
2° with respect to expenditures, the estimate of payments, by program, during the year, arising from the fees charged to liquidation credits.
Art. 50. The rationale for the general expenditure budget consists of notes outlining the general lines of federal public services policy and, by organizational division, the assignments and, by program, the objectives pursued, as well as the means to implement them. It also includes a breakdown of the inventory referred to in section 47, paragraph 2, and specifies to what extent tax expenditures contribute to the achievement of the objectives pursued by each program.
Art. 51. Programme appropriations are disaggregated in the budget tables in basic allocations in accordance with the economic classification, with an indication of expenditures for the financial service of pre-funded expenditures. This provision does not apply to appropriations for staffing.
Art. 52. The competent minister may, in the fiscal year and after agreement of the Minister of Budget, carry out a further breakdown of the basic allowances:
1° within the limits of the commitment credits of each of the General Estimates programs;
2° within the limits of the liquidation of each section of the general budget of expenditure.
These new breakdowns are communicated promptly to the House of Representatives and the Court of Auditors.
Art. 53. A budgetary control is carried out each year, during the first quarter, with a view to possibly adjusting the budget of the channels and means and the general budget of expenditures. In the event of an adjustment, the House of Representatives will be tabled by 30 April.
These adjustments are approved by the House of Representatives before 30 June.
Section 51 is also applicable to the General Estimates adjustment projects.
Art. 54. Where applicable, the Court of Auditors shall transmit to the House of Representatives its comments on the documents referred to in Articles 45, 50, 51, 52 in 53.
Art. 55. If it appears that the general budget of expenditures cannot be approved before the beginning of the budget year, the Act opens the interim appropriations necessary for the operation of the services and to be applied to the budget of this budget year.
Where appropriate, bills to provide new interim budget allocations for the same year are tabled in the House of Representatives.
Art. 56. The law establishing provisional appropriations sets out the period to which these credits relate.
The period for which commitment and liquidation credits are allocated shall not exceed four months unless legal or contractual obligations require that they be granted for another period of time.
Art. 57. The provisional appropriations are based on the corresponding appropriations from the last general budget of approved expenditures.
Provisional appropriations cannot be allocated to expenditures of a new nature not previously authorized by the legislator.
Except as provided in the special provisions of the Provisional Appropriation Acts, expenditures will not exceed the amount of appropriations per programme of the last approved budget, in proportion to the period to which these interim appropriations relate.
Art. 58. The publication of the general budget of expenditure to the Belgian Monitor renders the laws opening provisional appropriations null and void.
Art. 59. Any law likely to result in an unbudgeted expenditure must open the appropriations necessary for its execution during the current year, and, if applicable, during the following year.
Section 2. - Budget execution
Art. 60. All revenues apply to all expenditures.
Art. 61. Ministers may not commit or dispose of any expenditure beyond the appropriations available to each of them or beyond the authorizations granted by the Council of Ministers under section 70.
They may not increase by any particular resource the amount of the allocation for the expenses of their respective services.
The Court of Auditors has permanent and real-time access to budgetary charges. It shall promptly inform the competent minister, the Minister of Budget and, where appropriate, the House of Representatives of any overexpenditure or transfer of credits to the expenditures recorded.
Art. 62. § 1^er. By derogation from section 60, an organic law may create budgetary funds by assigning certain revenues to expenditures, of which it defines the object.
§ 2. The commitment credits and liquidation credits for each budget fund vary according to the amounts collected from the revenues referred to in § 1^er. These credits are increased from the credits available at the end of the previous fiscal year and usable from the beginning of the fiscal year.
Budgetary funds cannot be financed from general budget estimates.
The amount of commitments cancelled from budget funds is added to the available commitment credit.
The law referred to in § 1^er may authorize commitments to be covered by a commitment authority granted in the budget. In this case, winding-ups are only made up of the available liquidation credit presented by the relevant budget fund. The available balance of commitment authorities at the end of the fiscal year is cancelled.
§ 3. The channel and average budget refers to estimates of income for budgetary expenditures.
The general budget for expenditure includes:
1° the estimate of the credits defined in § 2, distinguishing:
(a) Variable credits available at the end of the previous fiscal year;
(b) Variable credits that form during the fiscal year;
(c) the amount of commitments to be cancelled during the fiscal year referred to in paragraph 2, paragraph 3;
2° the estimation of expenditure transactions on variable credits;
3° the estimate of the unused variable credits at the end of the fiscal year.
The amounts referred to in the preceding paragraph are adjusted in the budgetary control referred to in section 53.
Art. 63. By derogation from sections 60 and 62, the Minister of Finance is authorized to collect, as required, a portion of the tax revenues to allocate it to the expenditures made pursuant to the law, as a reimbursement of direct or indirect taxes, interest in delay and fines.
Return funds are open to the budget for unduly collected sums by the Minister of Finance. They refer to the estimate of revenues that are not recorded in the track and average budget and expenditures that are not recorded in the general budget of expenditures.
Accountants who have received undue sums may, up to their amount, dispose of them directly on their account in order to provide for their restitution and payment of the related late interest, in accordance with the laws and decrees in force.
Art. 64. Budgetary accounting also records transactions under section 49.
Art. 65. No outflow of funds can be made without the intervention of the Minister of Finance, except for exceptions established by law.
Art. 66. The Minister of Finance may issue advances to federal public service accountants to cover expenses that are determined by the King.
Art. 67. By derogation from article 22, paragraph 2, in the event of extreme emergency, of such a degree that the payment cannot suffer any delay of serious harm, the Council of Ministers may, under its responsibility, and by reasoned deliberation that it transmits simultaneously to the House of Representatives and the Court of Accounts, require the latter to grant an emergency visa.
Draft deliberation is submitted to the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Budget.
When in exceptional circumstances, the Council of Ministers cannot meet in due course, the decision is taken jointly by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Budget.
In such cases, the Court of Auditors limits its control over the accuracy of the receivable and promptly forwards its observations to the House of Representatives.
The bill necessary to regularize the expenditure is tabled in the House of Representatives within one month of the deliberation.
Art. 68. Any cash in the funds of the general administration is centralized on the Treasury account.
Art. 69. The Minister of Budget shall periodically transmit to the House of Representatives and the Court of Accounts the status of appropriations, as well as their assignment, by program and basic allowance.
Art. 70. § 1^er. In cases of emergency caused by exceptional or unpredictable circumstances, the Council of Ministers may, by reason of deliberation, authorize the commitment, liquidation and payment of expenses beyond the budgetary limit or, in the absence of credits, up to the amount determined by deliberation. The deliberation of the Council of Ministers may include an authorization to increase the commitment budget without amendment of the liquidation credit, an authorization to increase the liquidation credit without modification of the commitment credit, or a commitment authority in the budgetary law.
Draft deliberation is submitted to the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Budget.
Commitments and liquidations authorized by deliberation are recorded separately in accounting.
The text of the proceedings is immediately communicated to the House of Representatives and the Court of Auditors. The latter, if any, makes its comments to the House of Representatives without delay.
§ 2. The authorities referred to in the proceedings are the subject of a bill to open the necessary appropriations.
Deliberation must be the subject of an ad hoc bill in the following cases:
1° when the deliberation involves at least 5 million euros;
2° where the deliberation authorizes an expenditure of at least 500,000 euros that represents at least 15 per cent of the dependant credit from which this expenditure is imputed.
Any execution (commitment, liquidation or payment) of the deliberation is suspended until the filing of the ad hoc bill referred to in paragraph 2.
Where successive proceedings relate to the same section, the amounts they authorize are added for the purposes of these provisions.
§ 3. Subsection 2 does not apply to proceedings that authorize expenditures for which appropriations are provided in a bill already tabled.
Paragraph 2, paragraph 2, is not applicable where the Council of Ministers decides to block certain other credits up to the amount authorized in the deliberation; this contains the indication of the blocked credits.
§ 4. The Council of Ministers shall withdraw the amounts of the authorizations given beyond or outside the appropriations granted by law.
Art. 71. Allocation funds are open on an ex officio basis to the general expenditure budget for the share of the tax product, collection and payments attributed to other public authorities. They mention the estimate of revenues that are not recorded in the channel and means budget and that the Minister of Finance can make directly available to the authorities concerned, in accordance with the laws and decrees that regulate their allocation.
Section 3. - The General Account
Art. 72. The General Account of the General Administration is established by the Minister of Budget and sent to the Court of Accounts before March 31 of the year following the year to which it relates.
Art. 73. Each department of the general administration shall establish the portion of the budget execution account that concerns it and send it to the Minister of Budget before 1^er March of the year following that to which it relates.
The King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget, determines the form in which the budget execution account must be established.
Art. 74. In accordance with section 49, the schedule to the Budget Implementation Account of the General Administration also includes:
1° for recipes:
(a) the estimate of the amounts collected in the budget;
(b) the rights observed in previous years that were not collected at the beginning of the fiscal year;
(c) amounts collected during the fiscal year;
(d) the remaining entitlements;
(e) the difference between estimates and amounts collected;
2° for expenses:
(a) the estimate of the payments referred to in the budget;
(b) the fees paid in previous years that were not paid at the beginning of the fiscal year;
(c) payments made during the fiscal year;
(d) outstanding liquidated rights;
(e) the difference between estimates and payments.
Art. 75. Before May 31 of the year following the fiscal year, the Court of Auditors shall forward the General Account of the General Administration to the House of Representatives with its comments.
Art. 76. Before June 30 of the year following the fiscal year, the Minister of Budget tabled in the House of Representatives the bill to approve the general account of the general administration.
CHAPTER II. - Administrative services
Self-accounting
Art. 77. Self-accounting administrative services are services whose management and accounting are separated by a law from those of general administration services, without giving them legal personality.
Art. 78. Each self-accounting administrative department shall establish an annual budget for income and expenditure, which shall be set by the King on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
The budget provides for expenditures directly related to the volume of activity of the service that are authorized without an amount limit.
Art. 79. The proposed budget is prepared by the management bodies. Following the agreement of the minister whose service is responsible, this project is forwarded for approval to the House of Representatives in conjunction with the proposed general budget for expenditures.
Where applicable, self-accounting administrative services shall be subject to the law providing interim credits, in accordance with sections 55 to 58.
Art. 80. Self-accounting administrative services have autonomous cash management.
These services may include endowments to the General Estimates, which the King sets the payment rules, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
Self-accounting administrative services shall ensure at any time that they maintain the payment of their expenses within the available cash resources.
Art. 81. The general account of self-accounting administrative services is prepared by the management bodies and approved by the minister whose department is responsible, who sends it to the Minister of Budget, no later than 1^er March of the year following that to which it relates.
Art. 82. The general accounts of self-accounting administrative services are sent by the Minister of Budget to the Accounts Court by March 31 of the year following the year to which they relate.
Art. 83. Before 31 May of the year following the fiscal year, the Court of Auditors shall forward the general accounts of the administrative services to self-accounting to the House of Representatives with its observations.
Art. 84. Before June 30 of the year following the fiscal year, the Minister of Budget tabled in the House of Representatives the bill to approve the general accounts of self-accounting administrative services.
CHAPTER III. - Public administrative bodies
Art. 85. Public administrative bodies are divided between:
1° on the one hand, departmental management bodies, subject directly to the authority of the Minister to whom they are responsible and to which the management powers are entrusted;
2° and on the other hand, autonomous management bodies, with an organic autonomy, without prejudice to the powers of guardianship and control of the minister to whom they are responsible.
Art. 86. Each public administrative body shall establish an annual revenue and expenditure budget, which shall be set by the King on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
The budget of public administrative bodies may include non-limiting expenditure.
Art. 87. § 1^er. The budget proposal for each public administrative body with departmental management is prepared by the Minister whose agency reports and forwards to the Minister of Budget.
These budget proposals are tabled for approval by the House of Representatives, in conjunction with the proposed General Estimates of the General Administration.
The approval by the House of Commons of the budgets of public administrative bodies with ministerial management is obtained by the vote of the provisions that concern them in the law setting the general budget of the expenses of the general administration.
§ 2. The proposed budget for each public administrative agency with self-government is prepared by the management body and approved by the Minister of Management and the Minister of Budget.
The approved budgets of these organizations are communicated to the House of Representatives as an annex to the rationale for the general budget for the expenses of the general administration; If a budget proposal has not yet been approved by the relevant ministers, it will nevertheless be communicated to the House of Representatives.
The ceiling on investment commitments is set, for each public administrative agency with autonomous management, by a special provision in the general budget of the general administration's expenditures.
§ 3. The King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget, sets out the date for which the budget proposals of public administrative bodies are prepared and rules their transmission to the competent authorities.
Art. 88. The Council of Ministers ensures that public administrative bodies adjust their revenues and expenses in accordance with the economic, social and financial policies of the State.
To this end, the Council of Ministers is seized, under the conditions it determines, of the budgets of the said agencies, either to determine the general content of the budget before their approval or to determine the execution guidelines.
Organizations are invited, for this review, to propose their business prospects and the associated budgetary implications for a period of several years.
The Council of Ministers is periodically informed of the execution of these budgets.
The actions taken by the Council of Ministers are notified to the body by the Minister of Guardianship and the Minister of Budget. The organization is required to comply with it.
Art. 89. The lack of timely transmission by a public administrative body of its budget proposal and its annexes leads to the blocking of possible payments from the State's interventions in favour of this body, in accordance with the terms to be determined by the King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
Art. 90. The lack of approval on the first day of the budget year does not hinder the use of the appropriations provided for in the proposed budget of public administrative bodies unless it is a new principle not authorized by the last approved budget.
Art. 91. Transfers and exceedances of limiting appropriations to the budget of public administrative bodies must be authorized, prior to any implementation, by the Minister to whom the agency reports, in accordance with the Minister of Budget or his delegate.
If overexpenditures are likely to result in a state financial intervention higher than that provided for in the general budget of expenditures, they must be pre-approved by the adoption of a corresponding credit in the general budget of the expenses of the general administration.
Art. 92. Each public administrative body shall submit to the Minister to whom it reports, as well as to the Minister of Budget, periodic execution of its budget, in addition to the annual report referred to in section 18. The agency shall send to these ministers all other information they require.
Art. 93. § 1^er. The general account of each public administrative body with departmental management is established under the authority of the Minister to whom the Minister reports, who sends it to the Minister of Budget no later than 1^er March of the year following that to which it relates.
The Minister of Budget submits this account to the Court of Auditors before March 31 of the year following the year to which it relates. The Court of Auditors shall forward the audited account, with its comments, by 31 May of the same year to the House of Representatives.
The Minister of Budget tabled in the House of Representatives the bill to approve the general accounts of public administrative bodies for ministerial management by June 30 of the year following the fiscal year.
§ 2. The general account of each self-management public administrative body shall be established by the management body and approved by the Minister to whom the agency reports. Minister sends the approved account to the Minister of Budget no later than 1^er March of the year following that to which it relates
The Minister of Budget submits the approved account to the Court of Auditors before March 31 of the year following the year to which it relates. The Accounts Court shall communicate the approved account to the House of Representatives, with its comments, by May 31 of that year.
§ 3. The annual accounts of these bodies are incorporated into the annual federal state account established by the Minister of Budget in accordance with the provisions of Article 110.
Art. 94. The Court of Auditors may conduct on-site audits of the accounting and management of public administrative bodies.
CHAPTER IV. - State enterprises
Art. 95. State enterprises are organized by special laws.
Art. 96. State enterprises shall prepare an annual budget of revenues and expenses, the rules of presentation shall be fixed by the King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
The budget provides for expenses directly related to the volume of business of the company that are authorized without an amount limit.
Art. 97. The budget proposal for each state enterprise is prepared by the management body and forwarded by the minister to whom it reports for approval to the House of Representatives, in conjunction with the proposed general budget for the expenses of the general administration.
Where applicable, State enterprises are subject to the law opening provisional credits, in accordance with sections 55 to 58.
Art. 98. Transfers and exceedances of limiting credits to the budget of State enterprises must be authorized, before any implementation, by the Minister whose State enterprise is reporting, in the opinion of the Minister of Budget or his delegate.
If overexpenditures are likely to result in a state financial intervention higher than that provided for in the general budget of expenditures, they must be pre-approved by the adoption of a corresponding credit in the general budget of the expenses of the general administration.
Art. 99. The accounting of state-owned enterprises must allow to clear the cost of services and products, as well as the operating result by industry.
Art. 100. The general account of each state enterprise is approved by the management body and sent by the minister whose state enterprise reports to the Minister of Budget, no later than 1^er March of the year following that to which it relates.
The Minister of Budget submits this account to the Court of Auditors before March 31 of the year following the year to which it relates. The Court of Auditors shall forward the audited account, with its comments, by 31 May of the same year to the House of Representatives.
Before June 30 of the same year, the Minister of Budget tabled in the House of Representatives the bill to approve the general accounts of State enterprises.
Art. 101. Derogation from article 33, paragraph 1^er, the King shall, on the proposal of the minister whose state enterprise is under the control of the Minister of Budget, establish rules of administrative and budgetary control adapted to his commercial, industrial or financial activity.
Art. 102. The Court of Accounts can conduct its control of the accounting and management of State enterprises on site.
Art. 103. The conditions under which the State makes the necessary capital available to State enterprises, - either by in-kind contributions or by cash endowments - are laid down by law.
Art. 104. The Minister whose State enterprise is responsible may, with the agreement of the Minister of Finance, enter into borrowings for the specific needs of this company, provided that it has been previously authorized by law.
Art. 105. Supplies and services carried out by a State company in favour of other services of the State or other State enterprises, give rise to payment.
The same is true of the supplies and services carried out by other State departments or by other State companies in favour of this company.
However, the minister whose state-owned enterprise is a member may derogate from these principles in particular situations, with the agreement of the Minister of Budget.
Art. 106. The burdens assumed by the State on behalf of State enterprises are fixed in common agreement by the Minister whose State enterprise reports and the Minister of Budget and reimbursed by these enterprises to the State.
Companies also reimburse the general administration expenses resulting from the control of their operations.
Art. 107. The Minister whose state-owned enterprise and the Minister of Budget determine the general conditions to which contracts and contracts of work, supplies and services entered into by state-owned enterprises may require payment of advances before a service made and accepted.
Art. 108. If the availability of state-owned enterprises is temporarily insufficient, the Minister of Finance may make advances for a term not exceeding one year to cover the urgent expenses provided for in their budget.
Art. 109. Debts and debts between the Treasury and state-owned enterprises are of interest in the cases and in the terms and conditions to be agreed by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of which each state-owned enterprise reports.
PART IV. - Federal State annual accounts
Art. 110. The annual accounts of the federal state are prepared by the Minister of Budget on the basis of the accounting transactions recorded by each service.
Art. 111. The annual accounts of the federal state are transmitted by the Minister of Budget to the House of Representatives and the Court of Accounts before September 30 of the year following the year to which they relate.
Art. 112. The annual accounts of the Federal State are published in the Belgian Monitor by the Minister of Budget.
PART V. - Miscellaneous provisions
CHAPTER I^er. - The prescription of claims
Art. 113. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 114, the rules of limitation of common law shall apply to the services referred to in Article 2.
Art. 114. § 1^er. The amounts paid unduly by the services referred to in section 2 in respect of salaries, advances on them, and allowances, allowances or benefits that are incidental or similar to the salaries, when the refund has not been claimed within a period of five years from the first January of the year of the payment.
§ 2. To be valid, the claim must be notified to the debtor by registered letter to the post and contain:
1° the total amount of the amount claimed with, per year, the statement of undue payments;
2° mention of the provisions in violation of which payments were made.
As of the filing of the recommended letter to the position, the repetition of the indu may be continued for ten years.
§ 3. The period specified in § 1^er is increased to ten years when undue amounts were obtained by fraudulent manoeuvres or by false or knowingly incomplete statements.
Art. 115. Without prejudice to the application of other requirements or due dates established by the special law which governs them, the assets held by the services referred to in Article 2 on behalf of third parties are acquired to them when a period of thirty years has elapsed since the last transaction to which they have given rise with third parties or without a recognized request for restitution or attribution or payment of their interests has been validly filed.
The amounts that the services referred to in Article 2 hold in order not to have been able to liquidate them in the hands of the beneficiaries, remain subject to the limitation period specific to the claims they are intended to purify.
Art. 116. Payments issued in the event of a termination or refund of claims, amounts and assets referred to in section 115, shall be valueless if the payment has not been claimed within five years of the date of their issuance.
Their amount is permanently acquired to the services referred to in Article 2 except for seizure or opposition; in that case, the amount is paid on the expiry of the fifth year, from the date of issue of the payment, to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations à la conservation des droits de qui il partit.
CHAPTER II. - The alienation of property
Art. 117. § 1^er. Without prejudice to the application of specific legal provisions, movable or immovable property belonging to the services referred to in Article 2 and which cannot be re-employed and may be alienated, shall be sold or otherwise disposed of in an expensive manner, with the assistance of the competent administration for the Domains and in the legally prescribed forms.
§ 2. Furniture and immovables belonging to the services referred to in Article 2, 1°, 2° and 4°, which are no longer necessary for a specified service but which may still be used by another service of the same legal person may be subject to administrative transfer. This administrative transfer is carried out with the assistance of the competent administration for the Domains.
§ 3. However, the intervention of the competent administration for the Domains is not mandatory:
1° for sales of furniture belonging to public administrative bodies;
2° for furniture used abroad and whose general interest requires on-site sale.
§ 4. However, non-use and re-useable movable property may, with the approval of the higher authority, be transformed or converted into goods of the same nature, provided that they remain assigned to the service from which they arise.
Art. 118. A report on the sale or other possible alienations of movable and immovable property carried out pursuant to Article 117 during the year, as well as on sales or other eventual disposition still to be carried out at the end of the year, is taken annually in the schedule to the annual accounts of the Federal State.
Art. 119. Without prejudice to the application of specific legal provisions, the proceeds of the sale or other possible alienations referred to in Article 117 shall be the legal person who owned the alienated property and shall be charged to his budget.
Art. 120. The alienation or administrative transfer of immovable property that is part of the heritage that is indispensable for the needs of a service referred to in section 2, 1°, 2° and 4°, may, if any, result in compensation, mutually agreed between the Minister of Budget and the Minister Manager.
CHAPTER III. - Control of the grant
and Use of Grants
Art. 121. Any subsidies granted by the State or by a legal entity subsidized directly or indirectly by the State, including any advance of recoverable funds made by them without interest, shall be used for the purposes for which it is granted.
Except in cases where a legal or regulatory provision is made, any decision allocating a subsidy shall specify the nature, extent and manner of use and justifications to be provided by the grantee.
Any recipient of a grant must justify the use of the amounts received, unless the law exempts it.
Art. 122. By accepting the grant alone, the recipient recognizes the right of the State to conduct on-site control over the use of the allocated funds.
The organization and coordination of controls are regulated by the King, on the proposal of the Minister of Budget.
Art. 123. The amount of the grant shall be refunded without delay by the recipient:
1° that does not meet the conditions of grant;
2° that does not use the grant for the purposes for which it is granted;
3° that puts an obstacle to the control referred to in section 122.
Where the beneficiary remains in default of providing the justifications referred to in section 121, it is required to be reimbursed to the unjustified party.
Art. 124. It may be suspended from the payment of subsidies as long as, for similar subsidies received previously, the recipient remains in default of producing the justifications referred to in section 121 or subjecting to the control provided for in section 122.
When a subsidy is paid by fractions, each fraction is considered an independent subsidy for the purposes of this section.
PART VI. - Abrogatory, transitional and final provisions
Art. 125. Article 1^erParagraph 1^er, 2° of the Act of 17 July 1975 relating to the accounting of enterprises, amended by the Acts of 12 July 1989 and 7 May 1999, the words "with the exception of public administrative bodies referred to in Article 2 of the Law of ... carrying out the organization of the budget and accounting of the Federal State, and" are inserted between the words "commercial form" and the words "groupings".
Art. 126. § 1^er. Sections 2 to 7 of the Act of 16 March 1954 relating to the control of certain public bodies cease to apply to public administrative bodies subject to this Act.
§ 2. The provisions of the organic law or the statute of public administrative bodies subject to this Act shall cease to have effect to the extent that they are contrary or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.
Art. 127. The State Accounting Acts, coordinated by Royal Decree of 17 July 1991 and amended by the Acts of 24 December 1993, 3 April 1995, 19 July 1996 and 10 June 1998, are repealed for the services referred to in Article 2.
Art. 128. Are repealed for the services referred to in section 2:
1° Article 1^er Decree of 12 August 1807 on false values and subpoenas and warrants paid to the Treasury by accountants;
2° the Act of 15 May 1846 on State Accounting, amended by the Acts of 8 April 1857, of 28 December 1867, of 20 July 1921, of 13 July 1930, by the Royal Decree of 14 August 1933, by Royal Decree No. 34 of 13 November 1934, by the Acts of 9 April 1935, of 14 December 1946, of 5 March 1952, of 23 February 1953, of 28 June 1963, of 28
3° the law of 7 May 1912 concerning the bonds of State accountants, as amended by the law of 31 May 1948;
4° Articles 3, 4 and 6 of the Act of 20 July 1921 establishing the accounting of expenses incurred;
5° Article 5 of the Act of 31 May 1923 relating to the alienation of federal buildings;
6° the Act of 3 July 1956 on the suppression of fractions of francs in public accounting;
7° the Act of 3 January 1958 on assignments and assignments of receivables on the State of the Head of Work and Supplies;
8° the law of 28 June 1963, amending and supplementing the laws on State accounting, as amended by the laws of 31 December 1966, 22 December 1977, 2 July 1981, by Royal Decrees No. 402 and 403 of 18 April 1986, by the laws of 17 March 1987 and 28 June 1989;
9° Royal Decree No. 5 of 18 April 1967 concerning the control of the granting and employment of grants;
10° Article 5 of the State Act of 2 July 1969 and derogating from State accounting;
11° the Act of 6 February 1970 on the Limitation of Dependant Claims or for the benefit of the State and the provinces, as amended by the Act of 24 December 1976.
Art. 129. Are repealed:
1° Article 3 of the decree of 15-20 September 1792 concerning lighthouses, bitters, tons and beacons;
2° the decree (of the National Convention) of 23-27 August 1793 establishing a method of accounting;
3° the decree of 28 pluviôse an III (16 February 1795) on accounting;
4° the law of 17 floraal an VII (6 May 1799) which sets the accounting rules in accordance with the new weight system and measures;
5° Article 2 of the Decree of August 12, 1807 on false values and subpoenas and warrants paid to the Treasury by the accountants;
6° the law of February 9, 1818 regulating the means to meet the financial needs of the kingdom, as amended by the law of November 30, 1819;
7th Article 11 of the Law of 2 May 1956 on the postal cheque, amended by Article 153 of the Law of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises.
Art. 130. The Act of 5-15 September 1807 is repealed as it relates to State accounting.
Art. 131. The establishment and transmission of accounts for the budgetary years prior to the date of entry into force of this Act shall remain subject to the legislation that was applicable at that time.
Article 100, paragraph 1^er, from the Royal Decree of 17 July 1991 on the coordination of the laws on State accounting remains applicable to the claims of the federal State that are born before the coming into force of this Act.
Art. 132. The services of the State whose management has been, by virtue of a particular law, separated from that of the services of the general administration, are considered "self-contained administrative services" within the meaning of this Act.
Art. 133. This Act comes into force on 1^er January 2004. On a joint proposal by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Budget, however, the King may defer this entry into force no later than 1^er January 2005.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 22 May 2003.
ALBERT
By the King:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget,
of Social Integration and Social Economy,
J. VANDE LANOTTE
Minister of Finance,
D. REYNDERS
Seen and sealed the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
____
Note
(1) Note
Documents of the House of Representatives:
50-1870-2001/2002:
Number 1: Bill.
50-1870-2002/2003:
Nos. 2 and 3: Amendments.
Number 4: Report.
No. 5: Text corrected by the commission.
No. 6: Amendments.
No. 7: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full report: 19 and 20 March 2003.
Documents of the Senate:
2-1550-2002/2003:
No. 1: Project not referred to by the Senate.